F rom the nearby brush, a sound came akin to a sneeze. Cece, having been attacked out of the blue more times than she could count, fired her Magical Leaf directly into it and caused a Sneasel to leap from it. The little ice weasel was covered in scratch marks from the hit, and viciously snapped at the fairy for her assault. Cece bobbed to the side, glancing at Valerie.

The human was scanning her pokedex, reading about Sneasel with a mild huff. It wasn't what she'd come out here for, that was certain, and though it had a bit of a cute appearance it simply lacked some of the elegance and grace she wanted. She shrugged her shoulders at that and watched the little beast blow an Icy Wind at Cece. The Cleffa managed to dodge it before releasing another shower of leaves upon it.

"Let's just get this over quick Cece. We've got more places we can search still."

The Cleffa nodded in agreement, or as close to a nod as a creature her shape could, as the Sneasel closed the gap and used Scratch. It was a pretty powerful hit, but Cece seemed unperturbed. Valerie debated calling Copycat, until she also factored in just how weak Cece was physically.

"Wrap it up with another Magical Leaf!" Valerie called, watching her Cleffa spin to produce the attack. The Sneasel hopped back, blowing an Icy Wind to disperse the oncoming leaves. Valerie had to give it credit for the ingenuity, countering a move with a type super effective against it. Still, judging by the damage it had incurred and the way it panted after flash freezing the leaves the girl and her fairy both doubted it could keep up. Case in point, Cece let out another round of her attack and the Sneasel attempted a counter Icy Wind once more, yet it was far less potent and the leaves sliced into it's fur explosively, sending it flying with a cry.

Extra notes; 332 words; Cleffa gained +2 Levels

After defeating the Sneasel, Valerie was practically beaming at her Cleffa; the tiny fairy had done marvelously against the dark type without even being capable of using a Fairy type attack. Cece, for her part, seemed in similarly good spirits, though the Swablu on the girl's head seemed unfazed by the exchange. Left there to serve as an impromptu hat that kept Valerie's head warm, Lulu only cooed a single note of mild praise.

"Well done Cece."

The girl's pokedex pinged slightly, and Valerie swung it around toward a bush. It had briefly picked up the signal of a Pokemon, and she plodded forward through the snow as the bushes rustled slightly. Suddenly, from it, a yellow torpedo darted over her head and landed behind her, attempting to run off. Cece, fortunately for Valerie, stepped in front of the creature with a small yip. Valerie swung around and her lips tweaked into a sly smile. Her pokedex confirmed that exactly what she'd hoped for had appeared: a female Snorunt, capable of evolving into one of the most elegant Pokemon she'd ever laid eyes on in her youth.

"Cece, we've found our quarry."

The Snorunt, for her part, seemed a little hesitant to battle. She'd only drawn closer when hearing the commotion and watched the Cleffa oust the Sneasel with a small cheer. She'd left her pack only recently, striking out to explore the area. She'd always heard humans could be dangerous and wild, but this one was weird to say the least. It looked like some kind of Pokemon itself, sleeves flapping about excitedly as it called attack from the Pokemon. Oh....she was attacking? The Snorunt mentally kicked herself as a burst of magical energy broadsided her. It hurt like hell, but two could play that game.

Cece didn't even have time to react to the shards of ice that flew from around the Snorunt and slammed into her, scraping her roly poly pinkness and sending her backwards. The wild Pokemon hopped about for a moment, doing a small happy dance and enjoying the thrill of it; this was her first time in a one on one battle, her first time fighting without her family to back her up.

"Well, well. You've got some style Snorunt." Valerie complimented the wild Pokemon, who laughed a little. The Ice Shard had been a little rough in execution, sure, but all Valerie saw was potential. "We could help you get even better you know."

The Snorunt paused in her dance, eyeing the human up and down. Narrowing her eyes briefly, the ice Pokemon blew a chilling breath.

"If you'd like us to prove ourselves in a battle, we'd be more than happy to oblige." Valerie tilted her head and flicked her sleeve forward, causing Cece to resume a battle stance.

The Snorunt began to produce illusory copies of herself, a Double Team. Valerie's grin darkened slightly.

"You know what to do against an opponent who tries tricking you Cece!"

The Cleffa's hands met in a sudden clap, and the Encore was set. The Snorunt didn't even realize what was going on until it was too late, making clone upon clone of herself. At least the fairy wouldn't be able to hit her, right? Of course, the Snorunt didn't really have any metric to realize that pardoning a counter attack, Magical Leaf had sublime accuracy. It only took two more hits through the clones for the rest to fade and Valerie to walk over to the defeated Snorunt, pressing a pokeball to the tip of her hat-like body to welcome her to the growing troupe of Pokemon performers the Coordinator used.

Extra notes; 607 words; Catch Attempt on Snorunt